DREAM | Data and Research for Environmental Applications and Models

Conceptual diagram showing the development of integrated environmental modelling techniques for linked models.
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To address the most pertinent challenges of the age, including climate change, sustainable development and management of natural resources, we need to model the whole Earth as an integrated system (whole Earth system science). This can be done by bringing together climate, ecological, hydrological, hydrogeological, geological and socio-economic models, along with others, to provide the necessary framework for evidence-based prediction and planning.

Linking our models

The project will bring together geoscience and other environmental models to help fully understand the subsurface. A scoping study has been completed and DREAM started its project stage in 2010.

One of the key objectives will be to develop an environmental modelling platform comprising methodologies, standards and software to facilitate the linking together of existing environmental models in order to gain a more complete understanding of the environment and the processes that occur within it. BGS will seek to lead and facilitate the development of a research community focused on the development of the Environmental Modelling platform. Research collaborations will also assist in attracting external funding to the project.

The creation of software tools will allow the output from linked models to be visualised easily and utilised in decision support systems. The project will also promote the development of important underpinning concepts, such as a semantic framework for the geosciences, to allow data to be interchanged between different modelling environments.